A THEORY OF INTELLIGENCE Part Two; addendum (Identity)

dhw: Now in your new theory you have the soul incapable of thinking without the brain, and so we have the various convolutions in which the soul thinks its thought in English, the thought becomes ions, and the ions become thought, which the soul translates into the English in which it started.

DAVID: Because as you think that is exactly what happens. it is not a new theory to me because it is exactly know I view the process to work. All I've added is an answer to the hard problem of consciousness in how immaterial thought becomes electricity and then again becomes thought.

dhw: It is not an answer to the hard problem of consciousness (see above), and there is no need for thought to become electricity and then become thought again. Thought can use electricity so that it can be communicated to others. In death, it doesn’t use electricity, but telepathy. However, if electrical activity in the brain is the source of thought, we are back to materialism, and in my own theory I have attempted to reconcile the two hypotheses.

dhw: So you reject the proposal that the dualist’s English-speaking soul uses information from the brain, initiates thoughts in English, and sends messages to the brain to give its thoughts material expression.

DAVID: You won't accept my translation theory.

dhw: Neither version of your translation theory makes any sense at all to me. Meanwhile, do you reject the above proposal?

DAVID: All correct except you persist in not noting the whole process has to enter neurons, be represented as electricity and come out at the other end to be recognizable thought. I'm simply noting that the soul provides the translation mechanism into and from ions to recognizable English.

Which means the soul thinks in English, translates its thoughts into electricity, and then translates the electricity back into English. So why does it bother to translate its thoughts into electricity?

DAVID: You and I think with our brains.

Welcome to materialism.

DAVID: Our souls are the immaterial partner in the process.

dhw: According to your latest theory, all they do is translate the brain’s thoughts ("wet ions produce intelligible thought") into English. In the good old days, a week or two ago, the English-speaking soul was the initiator of thought and the brain did not contribute.

That is your interpretation of my thoughts, totally twisted as usual. In your view the soul seems to be a separate mechanism from you or me. This has always been my theory: My soul is an exact immaterial image of me. It works just like I do. I think with my brain in material life, and the soul think right along with me ( because it is me!) using the brain, except in my view the soul solves the problem of translating thought into electrical pulses over networks of neurons from thought into electricity and back to thought, and it does this because it is part of universal consciousness. My soul contains my immaterial memories, my knowledge, my ego defense mechanisms in exactly the way that in my material life those attributes of consciousness exist as immaterial yet in words material descriptions of who I am. In death the soul is more connected to the universal consciousness, and can now observe and think and telepathically transmit thought. This theory recognizes the duality of the problem. And it is not a change in belief; it is a deeper recognition of the consciousness problem in attempting to debate the issue where you keep separating me/soul from my brain.